For my final project i picked femininity for the identity project that i could relate to being a female, and when researching photographers i came across Justine Kurland’s ‘Girl Pictures’ which i as inspired by to create my own shoot similar to hers as i liked how she captured the youth of femininity in a unique way and and in such a natural way, for example how she captured people braiding each others hair which children usually do in the playground in their youth years, her photos don’t seem as staged as other photographers although it is obviously staged there is a way on how she photographed the people in such a natural way which is why it appealed to me straight away.

My idea behind this topic femininity was to show the stereotypical representations of females and the youth within young females.

when planning this photoshoot i had to plan the outfits with the people i was using for this i arranged them to all wear blue jeans and a whit top i liked the idea of them all wearing the same thing but the outfits being slightly different showing there style and what they are comfortable in. I also had to factor in the weather as this shoot was highly dependant on the weather i had to make sure the ground was dry and the sky was bright, although when i did the shoot there was a slight bit of mist in the air i believe this worked out for be as in on of Kurlands photos on a hill the sky is misty it also creates a sene of eeriness. However if i was to do this shoot again i would do it of a clear sky day because due to the bright clouds it made the photos slightly over exposed so there for in the editing process i had to turn the exposure down to make them look right and also due to the clouds it didn’t make the grass look as vibrant.

When it came to the photoshoot i wanted the photos to be as natural as possible i gave guidance to the girls of what i was wanting the outcomes of the photoshoot to look like by showing them Justine Kurlands book ‘Girls Photos’ and i let them partially do what they want which worked out in my favour as i got the photos i need to get in relation to Kurlands work but i also got outcomes which were unique to my work and what i had envisioned the outcome to be like. When it came to editing the photos i wanted to keep them natural looking i did this by not making any vast changes with the Kurland inspired shoot on may of the photos i tended to adjust the vibrance exposure and the saturation to create the look and aesthetic i was looking for, i believe that because i made the images more vibrant it made my photos look more alive and joyful and feminine

Overall evaluation

I really enjoyed this project, i learned a lot about studio lighting and different positions of lighting you can do to get different effects, i also believe that my knowledge and skills on photography have improved a lot since the last project as i feel a lot more comfortable behind the camera and my knowledge on how to work a camera. Things i have struggled with in this project is getting willing people to sit in front of the camera and asking people to help me, i have also struggled with working with natural lighting within portraits and finding the best balance to not get it over or under exposed.